


My Life as a Second-Rate Teenage Robot

by Mebreb



Category: My Life as a Teenage Robot
Genre: Gender Identity, Robot Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29815839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mebreb/pseuds/Mebreb
Summary: After waking back up and seeing XJ-9 act so human, XJ-8 can't help but want the same for herself.
Relationships: Jenny Wakeman & Her Sisters
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	My Life as a Second-Rate Teenage Robot

The experiment called for space – _personal_ space. As her latest creation, XJ-8 was going to read a simple book for children. Any significant errors in the way her consciousness interacted with logical reasoning could be found and fixed post-haste. All Nora had to do was be there for her.

" 'Jane,' " read Professor Wakeman, holding up the book and pointing at the words on the page. " 'See Jane.' "

"Mother," XJ-8 called out in her usual echoey monotone.

She knew it was 'Mom', not Mother, as far as Nora was concerned, but still she said 'Mother'. There was no need to correct her: that's what she was, wasn't she?

"What is it, XJ-8?" Mom asked.

"Who is Jane?"

"Jane is the girl in the picture," Mom replied. "That's why it's there above to the text saying 'see Jane.' She's running, too, just like it says in the book. Those are called 'context clues,' XJ-8."

"Affirmative."

Nora was about to point go the next sentence when XJ-8 spoke up again.

"Mother."

"What, XJ-8?" Mom replied.

"What is Jane?"

Mom gave her a funny look. "I told you that already, didn't I? Jane is the girl in the picture."

Her neckless head swivelled back and forth. "What is Jane?" she repeated. Same tone, same voice, same dead-eyed stare from those unblinking, plexiglass eyes.

'Eyelids,' Nora took note. 'Eyelids would help with human connection. I really should use those in the next model. And pupils, too. I don't know I got rid of those in the first place."

Nora shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't understand, XJ-8."

"What is a girl?"

Nora gave her a second odd look. "XJ-8, you should know this by now, I would have put it in your data banks."

"Data is... _incomplete."_

Nora rolled her eyes. 'Faulty wiring. One of these days... honestly, this is what I get for sparing expenses.'

"A girl is... well, someone like you, I suppose."

XJ-8 pointed a big, clunky finger in her own direction. "Someone... like me."

"Yes, XJ-8. They wear skirts, they like pink, they wear their hair in braids and pigtails, they, well..."

"Correction: Jane has no braids or pigtails in the picture. Jane has no apparent preference towards the color pink. XJ-8 does not have hair to be fashioned into braids or pigtails."

'Oy vey.'

"Regardless, you display feminine traits, or traits commonly exhibited by human females in the society you belong to."

"Correction: XJ-8 belongs to Mother."

Nora sighed heavily. "Technically, yes, but you also belong to Tremorton. You were made to protect it, weren't you?"

"Affirmitive."

"Indeed. Now, back to the book. Unless you have anything else to say."

XJ-8 just stared. Silent.

"Good. Now... 'see Jane run.' "

XJ-8 turned her head around to look at the room. "Where can Jane be seen running?" she finally asked.

"In the book. Context clues, XJ-8."

XJ-8 leaned in to get a good look at the page where Jane was shown running.

"This is not Jane. This is a picture."

'Landsakes...'

This was going to take a while.

* * *

Day 1892 of storage.

XJ-8 was in offline mode, but that didn't mean her back-processor couldn't work. She used it a lot. Not that there was much else to do.

Technically, no memory could be more vivid than any other, as far as XJ-8 was concerned. Every memory was stored in the same databank of files where they would stay indefinitely; however, out of every other memory, that moment with the book and Jane was the one recorded event she accessed the most while she was operating. It was, quite literally, the one she remembered the most.

Then somebody turned her on.

Her first thought was that Mother had done it, Mother needed her again. Her next thought was a vain attempt to process the small, white-and-blue android that stood in front of her, eyes blank and body reeling with suspense.

In fact, she looked an awful lot like a brighter, more lightweight version of XJ-8, not that she realized this. All she knew was that it looked remarkably human.

"Hi there!" said the smaller robot. "I'm XJ-9! Who are you?"

"I am XJ-8. Creator: Nora Wakeman. Directive: maintain the safety of Tremorton and its inhabitants from certain destruction. Manufacturer: Tahiti."

She let out a small gasp, just like a real human would. "Are you my sister?"

"This description is inapplicable. The XJ series is not a product of biological reproduction."

"Buuuut, you were still made by Mom, right? Dr. Wakeman?"

'Mom.' 'Mother'...

"This is correct."

"Well, so was I!" She held out her hand. "My name's Jenny!"

XJ-8 trained her eye on the hand Jenny held out, not sure what she was going to do with it. When it nothing happened, XJ-8 turned back to look Jenny in the eye once again.

"This is contradictory. You have self-identified as XJ-9."

"Um, actually, no. Jenny's just what people call me. It's easier to say, and I think it better represents what I am, y'know? Besides..." Jenny shrugged, tucking her hands behind her back as her eyes dropped down with a smile and the two of her foot swirled around on the floor. "...I like it. That's why I picked it."

Now this was curious to XJ-8. She picked it? It wasn't designated? This concept was entirely new to XJ-8, but now that she knew about it, the possibilities that opened up to her were unquanitifiable.

'Jenny.' Her name.

Jenny looked back up at her big sister. "Do, uh... do you have a name?"

XJ-8 processed this query.

And she remembered...

"Jane. My name is Jane."

Jenny smiled. "It's good to meet you, Jane!"

Jenny took Jane's hand and wrapped it around her own, undulating it up and down. Jane realized this was a 'handshake,' just like her databanks described it.

_'Context clues.'_ Even when Mom wasn't around, Jane could still hear her voice.


End file.
